For civilian contractors working on U.S. military installations overseas, an emergency evacuation can happen with little warning. Missile and drone attacks, incoming fire, fires, explosions, severe weather, security threats, and other emergencies may require workers to immediately leave their work areas and move to bunkers, shelters, or designated assembly points.
Recent hostilities across the Middle East have made these scenarios particularly relevant for contractors supporting U.S. operations in the region. When an alarm sounds, workers may have only moments to stop what they are doing and reach safety. In the rush to respond, contractors can suffer serious injuries even when they are never directly struck by a missile, drone, or other weapon. When an injury occurs during an emergency evacuation connected to overseas employment, the Defense Base Act may provide important benefits.
Evacuations Create Their Own Workplace Hazards
Emergency procedures are designed to protect workers, but evacuating a busy military installation can itself be dangerous.
Contractors may need to leave aircraft maintenance areas, construction sites, warehouses, offices, fuel facilities, or other work areas immediately. Multiple workers may be moving toward shelters at the same time while vehicles and equipment are also being secured.
Poor lighting, uneven terrain, stairs, obstacles, and confusion can increase the likelihood of accidents, particularly during nighttime emergencies.
Falls Are a Common Evacuation Risk
Moving quickly toward a shelter can result in slips, trips, and falls. Contractors may encounter gravel, curbs, cables, equipment, wet surfaces, or uneven ground while attempting to reach safety.
A seemingly simple fall can result in fractures, torn ligaments, shoulder injuries, or significant neck and back trauma. Contractors who fall on stairs or from elevated work areas may suffer even more serious injuries.
Adrenaline can also temporarily mask pain, causing some workers to underestimate the severity of an injury immediately after the event.
Vehicle Accidents Can Occur During Emergency Movements
Some evacuation procedures involve transportation between different areas of an installation. Contractors may be moved by buses, vans, trucks, or other vehicles during emergencies.
Heightened activity can increase traffic congestion while drivers operate under significant pressure. Limited visibility, security restrictions, and rapidly changing instructions may further increase collision risks.
Vehicle accidents during an evacuation can result in traumatic brain injuries, spinal damage, fractures, and other serious conditions.
Contractors Can Be Injured While Taking Cover
Not every emergency provides enough time for an organized evacuation. During an incoming missile or drone warning, contractors may need to immediately enter a bunker or take cover in the nearest protected area.
Workers can collide with doors, walls, equipment, or other people while responding. Kneeling, dropping quickly to the ground, or remaining in confined shelters for extended periods can also aggravate existing orthopedic conditions.
These injuries may appear minor compared with the hostile event itself, but they should still be reported and medically evaluated.
Blast Exposure Can Occur Even Inside a Shelter
Reaching a bunker does not necessarily eliminate all injury risk. A nearby explosion can generate blast pressure, intense noise, vibration, and debris.
Contractors may experience headaches, dizziness, confusion, hearing changes, tinnitus, or other symptoms following a nearby blast even when they were not struck by debris.
Because blast-related injuries such as concussions and hearing damage are not always immediately visible, contractors should not assume they are uninjured simply because they successfully reached shelter.
Psychological Injuries Can Follow an Evacuation
An emergency evacuation can also be psychologically traumatic. Contractors may believe their lives are in immediate danger while running for shelter or waiting for an incoming attack.
Repeated evacuations can contribute to anxiety, insomnia, nightmares, hypervigilance, exaggerated startle responses, and other psychological symptoms. In some cases, contractors may eventually be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder or another work-related psychological condition.
A contractor does not necessarily need to suffer a physical wound for a psychological injury related to overseas employment to become significant.
Seek Medical Attention After an Injury
One of the biggest mistakes contractors can make after an evacuation is dismissing symptoms because the emergency has ended.
Once immediate danger has passed, contractors who were injured or are experiencing symptoms should seek appropriate medical evaluation. This includes symptoms such as headaches, ringing in the ears, dizziness, back or joint pain, difficulty sleeping, anxiety, or other changes following the event.
Early evaluation can help identify conditions that may otherwise worsen and creates contemporaneous medical documentation of what occurred.
Report the Incident to Your Employer
Contractors should also promptly report an evacuation-related injury through the appropriate workplace procedures.
The report should explain not only what injury occurred but also the circumstances surrounding it. If a worker fell while running to a bunker after an incoming-fire alarm, for example, documenting that sequence helps establish why the worker was moving quickly and how the injury related to the emergency.
Contractors should retain copies of incident reports and relevant communications whenever possible.
Does the Defense Base Act Cover Evacuation Injuries?
Many civilian contractors working overseas under qualifying U.S. government contracts are protected by the Defense Base Act. An injury does not necessarily have to result directly from hostile fire to qualify for benefits.
If a contractor is injured while responding to an emergency arising from the conditions of overseas employment, the circumstances surrounding that injury may support Defense Base Act coverage.
Potential benefits can include reasonable and necessary medical treatment, disability compensation when the contractor cannot work, and compensation for certain permanent impairments. Qualifying psychological injuries may also be covered.
Insurance Carriers May Dispute the Connection
Evacuation-related claims can become complicated when the contractor was not directly injured by the underlying hostile event.
An insurance carrier may question whether a fall, orthopedic injury, or psychological condition was actually related to employment. That makes documentation of the alarm, evacuation order, incident, and resulting medical treatment particularly important.
Witness statements, employer communications, incident reports, and medical records may all help establish the circumstances surrounding the injury.
The Emergency Does Not Have to Cause the Injury Directly
One important point for contractors to understand is that workplace dangers during an emergency extend beyond the missile, drone, fire, or other threat that caused the evacuation.
A worker may be injured while running to a shelter, riding in an evacuation vehicle, securing equipment, taking cover, or responding to an emergency order. These circumstances can still raise important Defense Base Act issues because the contractor was responding to conditions encountered during overseas employment.
For more information about Defense Base Act coverage following an injury during an evacuation or other emergency on an overseas military installation, contact Barnett, Lerner, Karsen, Zobec, P.A..
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Defense Base Act coverage depends on the specific facts and circumstances of each case. For advice specific to your situation, consult a qualified attorney.